Cops Say Deputies Waited Outside School During Shooting

This Feb. 14, 2018 file photo shows students being evacuated by police from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., after a former student opened fire on the campus. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, File)

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The school resource officer said to have waited outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the Feb. 14 shooting that left 17 dead may not have been alone. The Sun-Sentinel reports Coral Springs police officers say several deputies from the Broward County Sheriff's Office also waited outside the school in Parkland, Florida, during the shooting instead of going inside to confront the shooter or help injured students and teachers. Police sources tell CNN that officers arrived at the school to find three deputies with their guns drawn standing behind their vehicles. The officers then entered the school on the direction of the deputies. Sources say the officers were upset the deputies already on the scene didn't follow them inside.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel says the allegations from three officers were brought to him by the Coral Springs police chief. “If we find out, as we did with Peterson, that our deputies made mistakes and didn’t go in, I’ll handle it like I always have," he tells the Sun-Sentinel. Israel suspended school resource officer Scot Peterson, who then retired, earlier this week. The sheriff's office says it will interview the officers who complained about the deputies' actions, and officials are reviewing footage to corroborate the allegations. Skip Campbell, the mayor of Coral Springs, says if the allegations are true, "it not only makes me angry, it makes me furious." (Read more Parkland school shooting stories.)